Wild Blue Yonder
by HFHoofHammer
Summary: *Sequel to Stargazing* After Reaper and Camilla finally met each other, the both of them had no choice but to be separated and return to their duties. But the obvious problem was that they're supposed to be enemies. Will the two of them ever meet each other again? Reaper x Camilla story. Hope you enjoy.
1. The Blue Boundary

Wild Blue Yonder Ch.1

 **Reaper (aka The Ribbon) x Camilla (aka The Butterfly Master) love story.**

 **The Ace Combat franchise does NOT belong to me. It respectfully belongs to Namco Bandai and Project Aces. The plot in this Fanfiction is obviously non-canon and was written by me.**

 **Well, now. It seems I released the first chapter of the full story!**

 **READ THE PREQUEL FIRST! (Title: Stargazing)**

 **In this story, I'll be making it like what I think will happen when the story of Ace Combat Infinity continues. Except I added ReaperxCamilla in it. Also, I'm not sure about the real names of most of the characters (Omega, Viper, Reaper, etc.) So I'll keep using their callsigns instead. Hope you don't mind.**

 **Story contains a lot of Fan Service to those Ace Combat Veterans out there.**

 **Note: Errors might be seen because of auto correct.**

* * *

Chapter 1: The Blue Boundary

 _The skies are the border between home and the heavens._

 **(Reaper's POV)**

"One more time…" She said to me.

I smiled back and did what she asked for. Our lips touched again once more and began to play with each other's tongues. She pulled me in closer as I did the same. With our bodies hugging against each other, we were kept warm from both of our body heat in this chilly satellite above Earth's orbit. Just the two of us, sitting here while watching the stars.

But it all had to end…

* * *

 **-(Comona Aerospace Center)-**

Here I am. Back on the surface of the planet I was born in, suffered, and where I'll die soon when my time comes. Forced to come back to put my life in the battlefield where there's nothing but hell. And not up there in that satellite, where I found Camilla safe and sound from the troubles down here. When I was up there, I felt so safe and sound from the horrors of war and mass hysteria.

And to stay away from the scars on Earth that Ulysses left behind.

I recently arrived back at the island where I was launched to orbit on that exact same day. The sun was setting on the horizon as I blankly stared at the orange skies with the night approaching behind me. Guess everyone was right about the West Indies having one of the most beautiful sunsets. Maybe one day I'll get some time off and go here on vacation. But given the situation going on right now, I don't think I'll be getting an approval from the UN Security Council. My fellow soldiers still need me in this fight.

"Ah, Reaper. There you are." A familiar voice called out to me from behind.

I turned my head and saw the person who called me. It was Commander Goodfellow, like I expected from his voice. "Commander?" I gave a quick salute.

"That was one helluva ride. Still breathing well?"

"Like wearing a functional breathing mask." I nodded.

"Good. Because we still got work to do back in Southern USEA where everyone else is waiting." He walked right next to me and stared at the sunset as well. "Great job, by the way. And don't worry, you'll be fine from the UN."

"I aim to please." I deadpanned, still thinking about what happened in my mission.

"Hey, are you feeling okay?"

I didn't answer his question with my voice. But I let out a sigh.

"Well, you must be tired after how much work you had to go through during this operation. When you're done enjoying the sunset, head inside and get some shut eye. You deserved it." Goodfellow patted my shoulder and headed back the way he came from. He stopped and looked back at me to add another thing to say. "Also, we'll be heading back to the United Arab Emirates tomorrow. Since we completed that operation in Baku and the USEAN Forces in Tehran are crippled, we're now authorized to attack Kuwait City. You think you're ready for that? What am I talking about - of course you are." He chuckled.

I gave a fake chuckle back and continued to stare at the horizon, blankly.

Now alone by myself, I watched a squadron of F-16Cs pass by the small clouds, on patrol just in case of a sudden USEA attack coming our way. I was more concerned about what was happening in the Pacific during this war. For all we know, an enemy fleet can be sent in to deal with one of our main naval bases, Pearl Harbor. Or the bases at Guam too. I shook off the thought, telling myself that the U.S Navy can handle that along with the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force, and the Philippine Navy.

I've already been through a lot for today. After taking one last glance to the skies above, I walked towards the entrance of the main building near the runway and felt the breeze from the air conditioner hit me. With my commander having a chat with a few other staff members in this base, I just quietly made my way to the room that was available for me.

Just an impersonal room with bleak white walls and a twin sized bed on the right side of the room. I shouldn't be too surprised, considering I was usually put into these kinds of rooms ever since I joined the Arrows. My legs were killing me. So I decided to take a seat in my bed and look through my bag I brung along with me.

The first thing for me to pick up was an old photo I kept with me ever since I was a kid. A photo of me and my parents. I blankly stared at the photo with my mother and father, knowing this is the only piece I can remember them by after losing them from the Ulysses collision.

* * *

 _"I've lost both my parents during the first wave of astroids striking twenty years ago. I was raised by my grandfather, who was a civilian pilot and taught me a few things about flying. Until he passed away. With the knowledge he gave me, I soon became part of the Bone Arrow Squadron." I explained a small history of my past to her, looking down at my hands, remembering when they were firmly gripping the flight stick of my grandfather's plane._

 _Camilla looked at me with a frown and guiltily looked down at her lap. "I'm… I'm so sorry to hear that. I really am."_

* * *

I miss them so much. But there is no way in hell I can take them back from Ulysses. Those astroids caused all this.

Not wanting to think about my past even more, I put the picture back inside my bag and lied flat on the mattress. I was naive to think that the skies was the most safest place in the planet. But I guess that was proven wrong when Ulysses dropped.

When I closed my eyes, I would just picture Camilla watching the stars inside that satellite with me. Her calm and gentle expression while gazing at the constellations and the lights from the past, I too have felt the same as her. Safe above Earth's orbit, away from the war against USEA. This calmed my body down as my head felt like the stress was lifting away.

After a while, I felt myself drifting away to a deep slumber.

* * *

 **-(Lower Earth Orbit)-**

 **(Camilla's POV)**

I already feel like I miss him.

'Why? I only met him and talked to him for a few hours, and yet I still miss him as if…no, that can't be right. But, he kissed me.' I touched my lips and remembered him sitting right next to me, scooting in closer, and looking into each other's eyes. That moment when we were both closing in, my face turned red hot after remembering the details. His hands were holding mine, his lips, and everything else. I shook off the feeling and looked out the window as the earth was rotating slowly on the other side of my window.

"Master? Is there something troubling you?" Kvasir asked me worryingly.

I sighed and looked down at my lap. "I don't know…" I answered.

"Are you feeling sick? Or are you in need for a meal or drink?" He asked.

"It's okay, Kvasir. Thank you for your concern." I said as my hands held onto my headset and controller I use for this…'game'. But it turns out, I was manipulated that this whole 'game' was not a flight arcade simulator kept for my entertainment. I've been killing actual pilots and soldiers with it.

"Forgive me for bringing this up, Master. But…what will you do now after finding out that you've killing actual pilots?" Kvasir asked.

"I…" I couldn't think of a response. So I just said, "I don't know. Do you think I'm a bad person for killing them?"

"Of course not!" Kvasir replied immediately. "Master, I should be at fault for this. Maybe if I would've told you sooner, I-"

"You would have been taken away from me, forever." I interrupted him. "Kvasir, I would be devastated if you were gone, leaving me alone up here. I promise I won't say anything about me discovering about the game turning out to be real life."

"I…Thank you, Master Camilla. It makes me happy for you to care about a machine like me." Kvasir said.

"You're my friend. Not a machine." I chuckled.

"Now you have two friends. Me and Reaper, correct?"

"Yeah…." I nodded slowly. "But he's gone now."

"I'm sure there is a possibility to meet him again. Perhaps if the UN wins because of him, maybe you can get out if this satellite and back at Earth."

I just ignored what he said as I was too distracted by looking down at Earth, now with the satellite facing the Middle East and some parts of Europe and Russia. Thinking that the UN will fight on USEA's doorstep seems like suicide. But after the Reaper proving himself that he can lead the way at the Battle of the Adriatic Sea, the UN was probably completely motivated and had enough hope for them to defeat USEA. If fact, I don't support USEA anymore after how much Reaper has told me on what they do to their people, even after how much they were traumatized by Ulysses.

"I can understand why you had to let him go, Master. Both of you had your duties, and you had to get back to it."

"Yeah." I nodded slowly. "If he stays up here, the UN would basically lose the battle against the USEAN Federation and he'll be punished for abandoning the mission. If I go down there, there's no doubt USEAN Forces will do what it takes to have my head for committing treason."

"Especially Master Cohen."

"Kvasir, please don't mention him. I'd rather not think about what he would do." I sighed.

"Of course, Master."

I yawned and looked down at the earth. "I'll be taking a nap, Kvasir. Wake me up if I get a message from anybody."

"Of course, Master. Have a nice sleep." He said before staying silent to give me time to focus on resting.

But I couldn't sleep even if I tried. Every time in close my eyes, I just think of the images of what Kvasir showed me today. All those pilots I killed…. It's a terrible way to die with a laser burning through your entire head and body like that. After thinking of those horrifying images, I then began to think about Reaper. When I thought about him, I suddenly imagined him dying by my UAV lasers. My eyes shot open as I shook my head to get the image and thought out.

'No…. Just…no! Don't think about that!' I said to myself in my thoughts.

I was starting to grow even more scared about the situation now. What if Reaper or his friends suffer the same fate as those pilots I killed? If I killed one of his allies again, who knows how he'll feel about me.

"UGH!" I groaned loudly and banged my head on a pillow. "Maybe the stars will get these negative thoughts out of my head." I said to myself as I turned on the live camera feed from behind the satellite to get a good view of the stars, replacing the window of earth into the live feed.

While looking at the stars, I began to feel more relaxed as I turned on my headset to play classical music in addition to clear my head faster. The picture of Reaper dying was replaced by him staying right next to me while I was stargazing. I chuckled to myself, knowing I feel so close to my own nemesis. But he's not that bad at all. As a mercenary, he had the heart to forgive me, prevent me from committing suicide, and comfort me like that. But most importantly, call me a friend.

"Reaper, in the future, I wish we can do this again. Stargazing." I whispered to myself before slowly closing my eyes to go into a deep slumber.

* * *

 **Well, first chapter is done. I hope you don't mind it being a short one. Well…it depends on if you see it short or long, since 2k words seems pretty short to me. Anyway, I really hope I at least did a decent job on the first chapter. Stay tuned for Chapter 2, my fellow aces!)**

 **If you like where this is going, go ahead and favorite or follow this story. Reviewing is optional. Not forcing you or anything. It's your decision.**

 **By the way, the cover I drew wasn't the best one, since I was in a rush and people wanted the story out soon. I might draw another one if I can.**


	2. Drops of Ulysses

Wild Blue Yonder Ch.2

 **Reaper (aka The Ribbon) x Camilla (aka The Butterfly Master) love story.**

 **The Ace Combat franchise does NOT belong to me. It respectfully belongs to Namco Bandai and Project Aces. The plot in this Fanfiction is obviously non-canon and was written by me.**

 **READ THE PREQUEL FIRST! (Title: Stargazing)**

 **In this story, I'll be making it like what I think will happen when the story of Ace Combat Infinity continues. Except I added ReaperxCamilla in it. Also, I'm not sure about the real names of most of the characters (Omega, Viper, Reaper, etc.) So I'll keep using their callsigns instead. Hope you don't mind.**

 **Note: Errors might be seen because of auto correct.**

* * *

Chapter 2: Drops of Ulysses.

 _'The Scars that Ulysses left behind.'_

 **-(*July 1999* Around the Bay Area of California, United States of America)-**

 **(Reaper's POV)**

My ears were already ringing from the loud noises of alarms and people screaming as it echoed all around me. The roar of fighter jets fly overhead as distant astroids fell from the twilight sky. I couldn't move as fear just froze my entire body. All I could do was watch as the asteroids were getting destroyed by air squadrons and other defenses like Stonehenge's barrage. Some of the pilots were even dangerously close to the asteroids and the explosions being caused by Stonehenge's explosive rounds. I could tell even the pilots and Stonehenge Workers were getting desperate to stop the overwhelming number of astroids to save innocent lives.

I felt my body get shoved repeatedly as citizens tried to head for the nearest shelter. US Soldiers did what they can to lead everyone to the shelter as the asteroids came closer to the surface. Children and babies were crying as they didn't know what to do or what was happening. However, I was the only one who wasn't crying. Just standing there without getting help from the soldiers due to how busy they were.

"Son!" I heard my father's voice call our from behind me as I felt his arms wrap around my body.

"Is he okay?!" I heard my mother's voice asked worryingly.

"Mom, Dad…" I spoke softly while watching the skies fall apart.

"Don't look, sweetie." My mom told me as she made my head face down. "Don't look up."

"What's going on?! I don't wanna die!" I cried.

"You're not going to die!" My father hugged me tightly as my mother did the same thing. "Everything will be fine. I promise."

"Where's grandpa?" I asked worryingly as my eyes scanned through the retreating crowd.

My father looked up at the sky and paid attention to an F-4E soaring around with the other planes, taking out as many asteroids as possible. I was confused to why he was paying attention to that certain aircraft, but my thoughts were interrupted when my mother forced me to look away.

"Grandpa will be okay. He's okay."

"Where is he?!"

"Son, listen to me!" My father shouted as the noises around me got even louder. "We got to worry about ourselves and these people right now! If you don't want to die, you need to stay with us!"

"We are not leaving grandpa outside!" I objected.

"Please listen! He'll be alright!" My mother cried as the sight of her dropping her tears pierced my heart.

"Just remember, son. You won't die if you stick with us! Just-"

 ***BOOM!***

The ground shook violently as everyone, including my parents and I, fell on the hard ground as an asteroid impact happened just a few miles away. My ears were ringing as my eyes were blinded by the bright light is caused. I panicked, making me crawl away from the impact and causing a huge problem. I didn't know where my parents were now.

"Mom! Dad!" I called out as I was able to hear again by just a little. However, it was back to the people screaming and crying again. The voices of my parents weren't heard from where I was at. All I heard was nothing but mass hysteria and destruction.

"Another asteroid!" One of the men called. "RUN!"

"This is the end!" Another man called.

"Mommy! I don't want to die!" A little girl cried hard.

"My baby! Where is my baby?!" A woman called out in distress.

I couldn't believe what was happening right now. All the noises, distress, and panic was making my mind fall apart. My vision was getting blurry from the stress and tears as I couldn't see clearly now.

"MOM! DAD!" I called out again, desperately.

Then I realized that I was just a few meters away from the shelter all of us were heading to. Finally, I saw my parents as they were being pushed around by the crowd. They were forced to wait near the doors as they were just kept being pushed by the crowd towards the entrance. Both of them fought desperately to get to me, but they were cut off as they looked up at the sky again.

I looked back at what they were looking at as the area was getting brighter. What I saw was an asteroid heading directly towards the shelter and it's entrance. This made people push them even harder as there was no chance to escape from the crowd. My dad began to use force to fight his way out as my mom began to cry.

"NO!" I cried as I began to run towards the entrance to save my parents.

But there was no chance for me to save them.

Mom…

Dad…

The impact sent out a huge shockwave that knocked me off my feet, and an extremely blinding light that prevented me from seeing how the impact went. My ears were ringing as I was unable to hear nothing. No cries, the alarms, or jets from the air. Just painful ringing as my body was numb from the huge force. My heartbeat was all I could feel. Then, my numbness began to subside, only for me to feel my body was in utter pain as I groaned and cried from how much it hurts. But what hurt the most was my heart after seeing my parents die like that in front of me.

I looked up at the sky while laying on the cold, dirty ground. More astroids kept falling as my body was numb, unable to feel the ground shaking and shockwaves from the impacts. The sight was like I was diving towards the sky full of stars. My small body was so weak, I was unable to get up and run away from an incoming fragment that was part of the one that killed my parents.

* * *

 **-(*20 Years Later/Present Day* Al Dhafra Air Base, United Arab Emirates)-**

I was finally awoken in the middle of the night after having such a horrifying nightmare. No, not a nightmare. It actually happened to me twenty years ago.

My body was shaking as if it was freezing in the room. I began to do breathing exercises to slow down my heartbeat. After experiencing that nightmare, or distant memory, I felt like crying, but I couldn't. I just sighed and got off my bed even though it was 3:45 AM.

While walking around the building, the halls were still empty as I was still in my sweatpants and tank top. I passed by my Commander's room, hearing him snore loudly through the door. I just continued to walk down the hall and reach the newly built balcony, facing the runway and the hangars where me and my squadron's planes were put in with Edge's right next to ours. Laying against the railing of the balcony, all I did was just look up at the dark sky with the city lighting coming from Abu Dhabi. Commercial planes landing or taking off from the skies immediately reminded me of what happened twenty years ago. I wasn't sure if it was because the planes looked like the bright Ulysses asteroids or because of the sight of their navigation lights flashing was like the fighter jets I saw that day.

After a few minutes, I shook my head to try and forget about that dream. But this has happened almost every week. So there's no way I can make it go away. So I went back inside to get a bottle of alcohol and went back outside. I'm not an alcoholic drinker, since I'm not much of a fan to it, but this is one of those times I feel like it'll calm me down. And I'm definitely not a smoker.

"Oi! Reaper!" I heard the voice of Omega call me out since I recognized his British accent. He leaned over the railing next to me and chuckled. "You're up rather early. What's up?" He asked with an energetic tone, even when it's this early.

"Just decided to cool myself down." I answered while lightly sipping my beer.

"It's kind of rare to see you drink alcohol. Something weighing you down?" He asked.

"Bad dream."

"Oh…" Omega understood what I was talking about, since this was the second time I told him. "Are you going to be okay?"

"Don't worry. I've had this dream many times and got over it in a few hours." I told him.

"Well, don't drink too much. You wouldn't want me to carry you to your bed as surveillance will see me doing that." He chuckled.

"Definitely not." I chuckled a little. "Hey, I've been meaning to ask, where were you during the Ulysses collision?"

"I was in Luton, Great Britain when it all started." Omega told me. "Seriously, it was complete chaos when my mum and dad tried to get me to the shelter. It was pretty bad."

"You're lucky you had your mom and dad carry you to the shelter. An asteroid almost hit us and made me get lost in the crowd. I saw my parents getting pushed to the shelter with me not even close to it. Then…" I sighed, "another asteroid struck directly at the entrance of the shelter, killing everyone. My parents included."

"Bloody hell…" Omega sighed. "Hey, even though I said this already, I still feel like I should say sorry for how much you had to go through with that."

"You don't need to apologize." I smiled. "So, you getting ready to liberate Kuwait City this week?"

"You bet I am!" He nodded.

"Remember not to tell anything to the USEAN soldiers when you get there."

"I kno-…wait, what's that supposed to mean?" He glared.

"You know…when you get shot down,…King Bailout."

"Belt up." He chuckled and punched my arm. "I'm on a roll for not being shot down after you joined up with the Bone Arrows, rookie."

"I'm not a rookie anymore. Already had to go through the growing pains, like what Viper and Goodfellow warned me about." I shrugged.

Me and Omega just talked in the balcony for around thirty minutes with the sun still not rising up from the horizon. The conversation was able to remove most of the dark aura running around my body from that nightmare. However, I still felt bad for Omega, even though his time of going in the shelter twenty years ago wasn't as bad as mine.

"So, are you going back to sleep?" Omega asked.

"I doubt it." I shook my head.

"Well," He gave a smirk and took out a wad of dirhams, the UAE's currency, "how's about you and I go on a stroll at the nearest food place? Maybe a little bit of chow will cheer you up."

"Are we even allowed to get off the base?"

"What are we? The squadrons from Area 51?" Omega laughed and nudged my arm. "We're Arrows. We don't really have that much rules as mercenaries as long as we stay out of trouble."

"I guess a little adventure around the area doesn't sound so bad. Plus the Commander said we won't really have anything tomorrow." I shrugged.

"Let's get going, Captain!" He ruffled my hair as he led the way out.

The reason why I decided to accept his offer is because I was feeling too tensed after having that dream. Camilla was lucky to not have seen what I've seen when the skies fell apart.

I sighed. All I wanted to do is to get all this negativity off my chest. And I mean all of it.

"Thinking of meeting some women here? Whether it'd be tourists or locals?" Omega teased and nudged my arm.

When he asked me that, the first thing to come up in my head was Camilla. I blushed by the thought of when me and her kissed in the satellite.

"Is that a yes?" He snickered.

"I don't know." I shook my head. "But if you plan on doing it, try not to annoy the girls by being a motormouth like last time." He smirked.

"Come on. I don't talk that much."

"I don't know, "King Bailout". Too much words come out of your mouth more than the Mauser BK-27 on your Typhoon." I joked.

"Hey!" He laughed and playfully punched my arm.

* * *

 **(I deeply apologize for the long wait due to mid-terms before and upcoming finals along with me working on RWBY: The Recidivist. Anyway, I hope you found this chapter okay. In the outline, I decided to show how Reaper lost his parents and was raised by his grandfather, a civilian pilot. Anyway, stay tuned for Chapter 3! I promise the wait for it will not be long as last time.)**

 _If you like where this is going, go ahead and favorite or follow this story. Reviewing is optional. Not forcing you or anything. It's your decision. ^^_


	3. Battle of Kuwait City

Wild Blue Yonder Ch.3

 **Reaper (aka The Ribbon) x Camilla (aka The Butterfly Master) love story.**

 **The Ace Combat franchise does NOT belong to me. It respectfully belongs to Namco Bandai and Project Aces. The plot in this Fanfiction is obviously non-canon and was written by me.**

 **READ THE PREQUEL FIRST! (Title: Stargazing)**

 **In this story, I'll be making it like what I think will happen when the story of Ace Combat Infinity continues. Except I added ReaperxCamilla in it. Also, I'm not sure about the real names of most of the characters (Omega, Viper, Reaper, etc.) So I'll keep using their callsigns instead. Hope you don't mind.**

 **Note: Errors might be seen because of auto correct.**

* * *

Chapter 3: Battle of Kuwait City.

 _Objective: Retake Kuwait City to reclaim Camp Patriot, and the newly built offshore oil rigs._

 **-(Al Dhafra Air Base, United Arab Emirates)-**

 **(Reaper's POV)**

It's been a day later after I had that nightmare of the Ulysses Disaster and my talk with Omega about it.

Morning finally arrived as I began to get dressed into my flight suit that was recently washed and smelt like bland fresh detergent. I'm not really picky when it comes to the scent of detergent or cologne, so I just shrugged and wore it. I put the photo of my parents and grandfather in my pocket as a talisman and headed out of the room I slept it. Same old stuff everyday in work, the halls were busy with airmen, pilots, and officers while I passed by each and every one of them.

When I finally reached the briefing room, I sat next to my squad mates as Edge went to hers, which was near where we sat. All of us stared at the global map when our Commander, Goodfellow was getting ready to start the briefing as it zoomed in towards the Persian Gulf.

"Hope all of you had a good sleep. I know I didn't because of the boss giving me extra work hours. It's an absolute pain in the neck, but don't worry about it. I'm used to these." Goodfellow cleared his throat. "But I digress. After the Battle of Tehran, we now have a much more open path to go across the Persian Gulf to get our supply lines going. The USS Essex will be stationed in the gulf along with a defensive fleet ready to be deployed. However, there's one thing that we need to accomplish to make this happen."

"What is it?" Omega asked.

"We initiate an assault on USEAN Forces in Kuwait City." Goodfellow answered as he zoomed in on Kuwait, displaying a 3-D map of the entire area. "An enemy fleet was already stationed there after we attacked Dubai. However, remaining enemy ships that retreated in the night operation in Dubai have settled in Kuwait, significantly increasing the naval defenses in the Persian Gulf."

"So you want us to sink down the enemy fleet so the USS Essex and the defensive fleet can take action to the rest in the Persian Gulf?" I asked.

"Correct. Another reason I should mention why we're taking Kuwait City is to take back Camp Patriot and the offshore rigs to significantly increase our quantity of oil."

"I can see why. 'Black Gold' is always the important resource in war anyway." Omega shrugged.

"If you destroy one oil rig, I'll make you fly a MiG-21 instead of your modified Eurofighter Typhoon from now on." Goodfellow warned.

"Oh no. Please. I don't want to become Viper." He joked.

"I'll be sure keep an eye on him if Reaper is busy with something." Edge sighed.

"Oh sure. Give me the dog collar." He mumbled.

"Judging by how big the enemy fleet is along with adding heavy ground forces in the shoreline, there's no doubt you'll be flying into a death trap. But knowing Bone Arrows and the Ridgebacks, I determined that just the two of you can accomplish this mission without disappointing the UN." Goodfellow chuckled. "Let's see if one of you can top Reaper's kill score on this operation. If the Butterfly Master comes and you shoot her down, that's a bonus."

My chest tightened when he mentioned the Butterfly Master, Camilla. But the thing is that I didn't need to worry about shooting her QFA-44 out of the sky. What was bothering me was how she feels about controlling it from now on. I told her everything that she wasn't playing a game. She has been killing actual pilots and other soldiers when she didn't want to do such a thing. She thought she was safe from war and not involved in it. The thought of getting shot down and killed by her drone's lasers made me sweat. Dying by the hands of the prettiest girl I've ever met just-

"Reaper," Goodfellow called, "you feeling okay?"

"Yeah." I nodded quickly. "Sorry."

"Anyway, Sky-Eye will keep you guys updated in the air. Expect enemy reinforcements when the enemy is suffering heavy losses. The USEAN fighters don't give up so easily. They want to keep Kuwait City and the oil rigs in their hands no matter what. Do not show mercy." Goodfellow turned off the map and corrected his glasses. "Dismissed."

After Goodfellow finished, Omega immediately nudged my shoulder and chuckled.

"Oi. How about sparing some enemies for me so my kill count can increase today." Omega requested.

"Not a chance." I answered with a chuckle.

"At least I tried." He chuckled back. "I honestly don't care about the money that much anyway. But hey, it's better than nothing."

"I can't stand mercenaries sometimes." Edge rolled her eyes.

"Hey, I'm still generous here, Edge." I shrugged my shoulders and got off my seat. "Time to take the skies." I said as Omega, Bronco, and Zebu followed me.

All of us ran to our hangar as me and my squadron's aircrafts were already prep for start. Edge ran to hers with her team that was next to ours and got on their ASF-X Shinden IIs.

I gave my F-22A a good look and saw the grey metallic paint scheme, the blue-tinted canopy, and last but not least, the Arrows Air Defense and Security emblem next to my Grim Reaper with a ribbon shaped like an infinity sign. Still beautiful as the day I got and upgraded her with expensive modifications.

"It's good to be back." I smiled and hopped on the cockpit and turned on the panels.

After getting in, I put on my white and blue flight helmet with my emblems, and put on my breathing mask. I looked at Omega as he was already on his Eurofighter Typhoon, wearing his Cancer the Crab helmet and breathing mask. He gave a thumbs up as I gave one back to him along with Bronco and Zebu. Then, I closed the canopy and moved my aircraft outside after Edge and her team was already checking their planes by the airbase mechanics. We checked weapons, flaps, electronics, and other things.

One of the mechanics outside gave me a halt sign as I saw Edge approach the runway, ready for take off. One by one, I saw her and the other Ridgebacks hit their afterburners and reached for the blue skies that were waiting for me and my team.

I was next in line as I moved my F-22A to the runway and stopped to the perfect position to standby.

"Bone Arrow 1. You're cleared for take off." The tower said.

After hearing my confirmation for takeoff, I hit the afterburners and felt my body move with the speeding up fighter. My back pushed against the seat as the entire cockpit was shaking. I pulled the flight stick as I then felt the hard shaking stop and my body feeling like it was being pushed up. Now airborne, I kept ascending as I could see a good view of Abu Dhabi and Dubai slightly seen in the distance.

"Altitude restrictions have been canceled. Bone Arrow flight, good luck up there." The control tower said.

"Affirmative. Thanks." I said as I lifted up my landing gear and flew my squadron in a diamond formation as soon as they got up here with me.

"Ah! There you are, Reaper. What took you so long?" Edge teased.

"Just being a good gentlemen. You know, ladies first." I replied with a smirk under my breathing mask.

"You're too kind." She said, which I could tell she rolled her eyes for.

"Sky-Eye to all flights. Radio check." I heard our AWACS speak.

"Bone Arrow 1. Connection is good."

"Ridgeback 1. Loud and clear." Edge acknowledged.

"Loud and clear. Sounds just like Omega." Goodfellow teased..

"Shut your gob." He sighed.

"Now that we know our job, how far exactly are we from Kuwait." I asked.

"You are approximately 500 miles away from reaching the combat zone. Stay in formation and ready yourselves for combat." Sky-Eye said.

"We had our planes checked already. So, readying ourselves is already done. Now…we pass some time off." Omega said.

Silence engulfed around us in the skies for a few minutes. I decided to break it down and comment on something random to get a conversation going. However, we have to make sure our radars are clear from any bogeys.

"Ahh…the sea. Blue as the sky, and cold as Edge's attitude." I joked.

"Thanks for leaving your radio on, idiot." Edge rolled her eyes and secretly gave a chuckle. "Plus the water here isn't even that cold."

"Ahh…the desert. So much sand. And dry like Reaper's sense of humor." Omega joked.

"Wow. That 'burns'." I sent out a pun.

"Would you like another 'exSANDple' of a desert joke?" Omega laughed.

"Cut the chatter." Goodfellow ordered. "Both of your jokes are making everyone cringe."

"Alright, alright. We'll save our breaths when we have to taunt the enemy pilots." Omega sighed.

"Alrighty. I can't 'kuWAIT'." I sent one last pun.

I heard Edge sigh from that joke as I chuckled quietly to myself.

* * *

 **-(Kuwait City)-**

"Looks like they knew we were coming." Edge said as she pointed out what was in front of us.

The defensive fleet was already facing towards us as a few enemy squadrons flew above them, armed with anti-air missiles, ready to shoot us down. The fleet consisted of mostly twelve destroyers, five Aegis ships, and three cruisers, according to my radar and my view ahead of me. I was later confirmed correct after Sky-Eye gave a SitRep.

"You guys didn't come all this way to go swimming with the fishes. Take out all enemy flights and vessels." Goodfellow ordered.

"Affirmative." I nodded and rolled down.

"Let's go fishing for ourselves, Captain Reaper." Omega cheered and followed me down.

 _"Enemy flight approaching our fleet. All units, intercept at once!" An enemy flight leader gave out his orders._

 _"Flagship Haven to all ships. Initiate AA barrage on approaching enemy aircraft. Watch for friendly fire." The enemy captain ordered._

 _"Roger that. Commencing defensive action." One of the Aegis captains said._

I looked ahead towards the Aegis I was diving down to and saw the anti-aircraft guns fire rounds towards my nose.

"Incoming barrage!" Omega shouted as he began to withdraw from the dive.

However, I still kept heading down as I could hear the hailstorm of bullets dashing past my aircraft. I rolled around to avoid the shots and fired two missiles to take down on of the AA guns. After my weapons cooled down, I fired another set of missiles and struck the captain's brig. The shattered metal of the destroyed center splashed all around the water as the ship was engulfed in flames. The power onboard was neutralized as it was unable to use its weapons and equipment. Then, it began to slowly sink down the gulf.

"Enemy vessel sunk." Sky-Eye confirmed my kill.

 _"One ship lost already?! You gotta be kidding me!" An enemy pilot growled._

 _"Wait, that emblem…! We're dealing with that ace of the pirates!" The enemy squad leader notified._

 _"The Grim Reaper with the Ribbon, eh? Flagship Haven to all units, focus your attacks on the Reaper. Make additional aircraft go after the rest." The Captain of the enemy flagship ordered._

While breaking away from the other AA fire, I noticed I was being tracked by an enemy. I looked at the mirror and saw an enemy F-16C on my tail. When a missile was fired at me, I pulled the stick and made a sharp turn upwards to evade successfully. Then I made another sharp turn to get the off the enemy's sights. Now, I was behind him and fired a rain of cannon rounds, shredding off his right wing, making him lose control and plunge his plane to the gulf.

"Bandit shot down." I confirmed and went after two other F-16C heading towards me head on. I locked on both of them in time to fire two heat-seeking missiles, striking the front air intakes, utterly destroying their aircrafts out of the sky.

"He already shot down half my squadron. This is not looking good." The enemy flight leader nervously gripped his flight stick.

"I didn't even shoot one down and he's already four kills ahead…" Edge said.

"What do you expect from our Cap'n." Omega chuckled.

 _"I'll feed you to the sharks!" The enemy squad leader growled._

Another missile alert rung as I immediately made evasive action when I saw my radar track the missile that almost struck my tail at close range. I looked back as saw another one of he F-16Cs tailgating me. I pushed up my afterburners and flew at a lower altitude, heading towards the enemy ships. I saw Edge take out another Aegis that was in my way and kept going. My missiles locked on a destroyer as I fired missiles and shot out a few rounds from my cannon. My missile pierced inside the center of the destroyer and exploded, sinking it down slowly. I repeated the process, lock and fire and so on. In one dangerously low strafe, I sunk around five destroyers and critically disabled the last Aegis, which was unable to fire back. Omega and my Bone Arrow squadron gave some assistance as they took care of AA guns and additional enemy aircraft.

"Keep at 'em, Bone Arrows. Still got some targets left." Goodfellow said.

 _"Flagship Haven to all remaining ships, assist our allies as best as you can." The enemy captain said._

I then remembered I had the enemy flight lead behind my back as he tried to shoot me down with his gun rounds and missiles, which all missed due to my movements. I pulled up and ascended a few thousand feet and dived down again, heading towards the enemy flagship with a bandit on my tail. Now was a good time to lose him. I fired my missiles down at the cruiser and struck the vital areas on the first shots. My second shots made the cruiser explode when I was a few hundred feet away from it. I passed by from above it in time as shrapnel and flames rose up from the cruiser, making the enemy plane behind me go through the hot firewall. He trailed smoke on his engine as shrapnel disabled his aircraft.

 _"Engine is dead! I'm bailing out!" The enemy flight lead said as he ejected and saw his plane plunged into the water._

 _"Mayday! Mayday! Flagship Haven to all ships. We're going down! All hands, abandon ship immediately!"_

"Always doing the risky tricks to impress us, aren't you?" Omega chuckled.

"It's part of my job." I replied.

 _"Half of our forces have been destroyed. How can this happen? There's only eight enemy planes up there!" The captain of one of the destroyers said._

"I didn't expect this operation to go on so well this quickly. This is going to be a cakewalk." Goodfellow said.

"Datalink setup is online. All units, connect and take down the rest of the enemy vessels and planes." Sky-Eye said. "Just watch your fire. Do NOT strike the oil rigs." He added.

"Don't worry. I got the hint when Goodfellow told me." Omega sighed.

"When you fly it one day, get ready to learn some Russian." Edge teased.

"No. It's Viper's attitude I gotta worry about getting when I fly the same plane as his."

With the shoreline and Fort Patriot seen in the distance behind the fleet, or what was left of it, we pushed forward more as we encountered the barrage of anti-air rounds from the destroyers and two cruisers left. Edge went over to handle the remaining enemy squadron in the air as I was told to handle the enemy vessels with my flight. With aces like us, we cleared out the rest of the remaining ships without dealing any damage and before Edge could finish her job with the other Ridgebacks.

I dashed towards them and locked onto an enemy plane that Edge was trying to shoot down. My missile headed to the target as I stole her kill.

"Thanks for saving the last one for me." I chuckled.

"Wow. Thanks, I guess." She sighed. "Did you deal with the ships already?"

"Judging by the lack of AA fire and SAMs, yeah. We did." I said as the black smoke rose from each of the enemy vessels me and my squadron destroyed.

"It's like we're polluting Kuwait with the black smoke again like in the Gulf War." Omega whistled.

"Instead of oil, what a waste of ships." I sighed.

"Sooo…do we head back now?" Omega asked.

"I wouldn't say 'Yes' to that." Goodfellow said.

"What's up?"

"Sky-Eye to all flights, I'm detecting new readings coming from the north. Enemy reinforcements incoming!"

"Looks like we'll be getting extra money in our pockets today. Reaper, do your thing." Goodfellow ordered.

"What about me, Goodfellow?" Omega asked.

"Try not to get shot down."

"Of course…"

"Sky-Eye, can you confirm who we are dealing with?" I asked.

"Unknown. I'm getting multiple readings coming from high altitude above the Kuwait City. It's…unmanned aerial vehicles and one enemy fighter." He answered. "Is that-…?"

My heart dropped when he confirmed it to be UAVs and one enemy fighter. There is only one ace that I know that flies alone while using UAVs during combat. The Butterfly Master.

Camilla…

* * *

 **(Yes, I broke the promise ^^; . Reasons: Helping my dad renovate the house, college finals before, and such. But mostly renovating the house. I can't promise anything about early releases, but all I can say is this: I am NOT going to abandon this story. I will complete it. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Stay tuned for the next one soon!)**

 _*You may Favorite or Follow the story, if you'd like. Reviewing this story is optional as well._


	4. An Unwanted Dogfight

Wild Blue Yonder Ch.4

 **Reaper (aka The Ribbon) x Camilla (aka The Butterfly Master) love story.**

 **The Ace Combat franchise does NOT belong to me. It respectfully belongs to Namco Bandai and Project Aces. The plot in this Fanfiction is obviously non-canon and was written by me.**

 **READ THE PREQUEL FIRST! (Title: Stargazing)**

 **In this story, I'll be making it like what I think will happen when the story of Ace Combat Infinity continues. Except I added ReaperxCamilla in it. Also, I'm not sure about the real names of most of the characters (Omega, Viper, Reaper, etc.) So I'll keep using their callsigns instead. Hope you don't mind.**

 **Note: Errors might be seen becaus** **e of auto correct.**

* * *

Chapter 4: An Unwanted Dogfight.

 _She hoped this day wouldn't come…_

 **-(Skies of Kuwait City)-**

 **(Reaper's POV)**

It was Camilla, The Butterfly Master.

I could see her drones approaching us in defensive formation with her QFA-44 in the center of them. My heart was beating fast as my mind was clouded of the same horrible thoughts of dying by Camilla's drones. There was no time to think of something like that. I have shot down many aces and the butterfly drones as well as Camilla's QFA-44, three times.

"Boss, you ready to rip out the Butterfly Master's wings?" Omega asked excitingly.

"Uh…yeah." I tried to act excited.

What worried me the most was how Camilla was feeling behind the remote controlled aircraft. I can't kill her by shooting her down, which I was relieved about. But I could get shot down and die either way, even if I eject because of the drones lasers. My only chance of survival was to shoot her drones and aircraft. If she kills me, who knows how she will feel.

*"Countdown initiated. 300 seconds."*

"All units. Commence attack on the enemy drones first." Sky-Eye said.

"We know the drill." I said as I broke out of formation and charged towards the QFA-44 and its swarm of UAVs with laser armaments. The sound of the glaring lasers passed by me as I got close enough to fire a barrage of guided missiles. Two of them were destroyed in mid-air due to the lasers, but the rest shot them down, killing four of the drones.

"Whew! Nice shot." Edge commented as I saw her engage the Butterfly Master without dealing with the drones. But to no avail. All her missiles kept getting destroyed as her gun rounds missed every shot because of the agility of the QFA-44.

"Edge, focus your fire on the drones first. You're just wasting your ammo." Goodfellow said.

"I know you're pissed off at the Butterfly Master, but don't be so reckless like Slash." Omega said.

Edge huffed on radio. "Fine."

"Fox 2 sent." I called out as my missile headed towards one of the drones, obliterating it out of the sky. The sound of the glaring laser almost grazed my craft as I swiftly evaded it.

"All units. This is Goodfellow. Remember, the UAV reaction time is weakened after it uses a laser attack. As soon as it attacks, evade, then strike back."

"What about the city and the rest of the enemy forces?" Omega asked.

"Leave them to the allies approaching the city. You all done enough support for them."

"And here I thought we would get additional money from that." I joked by using Viper's money hungry attitude.

My aircraft was still loaded with ammunition as I fired my guns, missiles, and evaded every attack coming from the UAVs. With half of them already gone, I noticed something that I should've realized moments ago. The QFA-44 aircraft was not attacking me at all. Not a single sound of bullets or missile was fired like it was depending on the UAVs to shoot me down. Camilla was probably not having the desire to fight against me after what I have told her. Edge attempted to fire a missile at her craft, but failed as a laser destroyed her missile easily.

"What is he doing? The Butterfly Master is not even trying." Edge said.

"That's odd." Goodfellow commented.

"Commander Goodfellow? Give me a sitrep." Sky-Eye requested.

"I'm detecting a strange frequency coming from the Butterfly Master's craft. Wait…what does it mean by…" Goodfellow whispered.

I looked up, directly at Camilla's QFA-44 as I noticed she was not heading towards me anymore. She flew in a smooth formation with her drones as no attacks were being sent our way. After around ten seconds…

*BOOM!*

The UAVs equipped with the laser weaponry were just destroyed in midair! No missiles or other armaments were fired as missile trails were not visible in the area where she flew. The bolts of electricity from the drone's explosion hit Camilla's remote controlled QFA-44 as the engines began to smoke, severely damage caused by the bolts, the explosion's shockwave, and shrapnel.

"Eh?" I raised an eyebrow.

"What?!" Sky-Eye watched in disbelief. "What's happening? Goodfellow, give me a sitrep." He requested again.

"All the UAVs have been destroyed. They all self-destruct!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Are you kidding me? Why the hell did that happen?" Omega asked. "I'm asking that in a good way, of course." He added.

"Probably a datalink malfunction in the Butterfly Master's aircraft that caused the UAVs to explode." Edge made a wild guess.

"No matter. At least you don't have to deal with those annoying bugs. Take down the Butterfly Master!" Goodfellow ordered.

I pulled the flight stick as my F-22 made a sharp turn upwards towards Camilla's QFA-44. It was still flying in a smooth and steady path as she didn't even try to send any attacks towards me. My sights stayed on her aircraft as I fired my guns first to shred the air intakes, then finally launched two missiles that utterly obliterated the craft from the sky. I passed by the shrapnel and falling fuel and stared at it, watching it fall from the sky and pummel into the the ocean. Relieved that I once again survived, I was once again struck down by the thought of Camilla actually inside of that aircraft. If she was, that would've been the most painful kill I have ever done. It would hurt me more than it would hurt her.

"Radar is clear of enemy aircraft!" Sky-Eye said.

"What about the ground forces?" I asked.

"No need to worry about our friends down there. Look." Omega said as enemy forces were already retreating with an allied tank battalion pursuing them.

"USEANs are the brave fighters that never retreat?" Edge scoffed. "Wait until they hear about this."

"They're only human like us." Omega chuckled. "Unlike a so called 'Ace' who uses UAVs to cheat their way to get the title." He referred to The Butterfly Master.

"She is actually human…" I said quietly.

"Huh? What was that, Captain?" Omega heard my whisper.

"Nothing. We live to fight another day." I said.

"Ha! We'll be fighting until the end, Cap'n!" He corrected.

"Boys, do you mind not acting like dorks in my presence?"

"IRAQ'n (I reckon) you hate dorks, tough girl?" Omega joked.

"We're in Kuwait,…idiot."

"Close enough."

I looked at the spot where Camilla's aircraft crashed as some smoke risen up from it while fuel polluted the water around it. Then, I looked back up at the sky, knowing she was still watching us from up there in Earth's orbit. I was unsure how she was feeling right now. But I was betting she still was not happy about this battle not because her side lost. It was because she was probably not happy about going on sortie to shoot me down. That must've been the reason why she didn't retaliate from my attacks. And I was assuming Kvasir was responsible for making her UAV drones self-destruct during the battle.

After I realized I was staring out into space, no pun intended, I looked back down at my console and HUD to get a good view of the desert while my team and Ridgeback Squadron flew in formation above the capital.

'Another victory for us.' I thought to myself with a small smile.

* * *

 **-(Earth's Orbit, Directly Above Kuwait)-**

 **(Camilla's POV)**

Silence.

"Cohen is not going to be happ-"

"Don't bring him up. I know." I interrupted him.

"My apologies." Kvasir said. "But you made all of your drones self-destruct in the middle of battle. How will I report this to him?"

"Just tell him there was a sudden malfunction in the drones and my datalink was unable to work." I told him while staring at the screen of UN Forces retaking Kuwait City. Reaper's aircraft was seen flying in formation with his Bone Arrow Squadron. I couldn't help but smile as he rolled around to give the allied ground forces a sign of victory as I saw some soldiers wave and cheer at his plane. The USEAN Forces did that to my plane once. But when I look back at it now, I don't feel happy and proud about it. I still killed the pilots that I shot down because of my UAVs.

My eyes gazed down at my controller as it was still decorated with butterflies while shining a glossy pink color. I squeezed it tightly, ready to throw it away from me. I couldn't bare to even hold it anymore. This was a tool I used to keep this war going. I never intended to make it like this. Before I could throw it, I was interrupted by Kvasir calling me name.

"Are you alright, Master?" He asked.

"Yeah. I just-…I just need a minute to think." I answered while looking away from the screen.

Nothing but silence flowed around the interior of the satellite. Kvasir kept quiet, not knowing what else to say or even try and attempt to cheer me up. Feeling a bit guilty for making him worry about me too much, I forced a smile and looked back at the screen.

"Kvasir, is there anything on T.V? Maybe we can watch some show or movie that's playing." I said with a smile.

"Of course! Allow me!" Kvasir agreed and switched the screen of the countdown to a movie that was playing.

My frown returned back when literally the first scene that came up was a soldier reuniting with his lover in some romance film. I watched as the two of them were talking about what they have been up to, hearing about the soldier's adventures and the woman's struggle of loneliness. For some reason, I could relate myself to the woman that had to be separated from her lover while he was risking his life at the battlefield. Here I am, peacefully living inside a satellite where nothing can hurt me while Reaper was just down their, fighting the war where he could die at any time. The thoughts of him dying by another ace was painful enough for my heart to crack open. But it was even more painful when I had to be the one to do it while my UAVs just…incinerate his body.

"No…!" I growled angrily with my voice choked. Kvasir caused the movie to ensure I was okay. My reply was forced as I told him to continue the movie like nothing else happened.

All of it was coming back again. The negative thoughts of Reaper dying was coming back to haunt my mind to prevent myself from relaxing. I had my doubts about his chances of getting shot down. However, I know I can be wrong. Any ace can be shot down.

"I don't wanna…" I whispered to myself.

"Say again, Master?" Kvasir asked.

"I don't wanna play this stupid 'game' anymore." I shook my head as I put my controller aside. "Actually, I wish it was actually a fictional game." I sighed.

"As much as I want you to stop this for your own good, Master Cohen is going to force you to go on sortie no matter what." He told me.

My fists clenched when I heard him mention that. "Next time when I face Reaper, I'm not even going to try and shoot him down again."

"Why?"

"Because killing your own friend is a lot more painful than dying." I told him and set my controller down before hugging my legs. "I don't want to be involved in this pointless war anymore. I would rather die than take his life. I'm just some worthless girl who has been a tool since the beginning while Reaper has a much more happier life than mine." I said while trying my best to hold back tears.

Kvasir was probably feeling so bad for me right now. I was once that playful happy-go-lucky girl that he would talk to while I would play this 'game', watch television, or stare at the constellations. He may be some artificial intelligence created by scientists, but he's still my friend.

"I understand how you feel." He sighed and opened a small fridge near my seat. "Here. You're probably in need for nutrition."

"Thanks, Kvasir." I shrugged and took out an ice cream cup.

"Sweets again, Master?"

"I'm feeling depressed, okay?" I frowned and took a huge spoonful.

"Or because you're trying to stay sweet as you are." He complimented me to try and at least make me smile.

It worked as I blushed wildly. "Shut up…" I giggled quietly.

* * *

 **(The dogfighting scene seemed too short? I apologize if it was. There will be more action in future chapters. Also, I appreciate everybody's patience for this chapter to come out. Originally, I was going to try to finish this chapter up and post it last week. But the huge amount of schoolwork in the first week almost drowned my sanity to the point where I couldn't work on this. Anyway, time to work on the next chapter!)**

 _*You may Favorite or Follow the story, if you'd like. Reviewing this story is optional as well._


	5. Keeping It To Yourself

Wild Blue Yonder Ch.5

 **Reaper (aka The Ribbon) x Camilla (aka The Butterfly Master) love story.**

 **The Ace Combat franchise does NOT belong to me. It respectfully belongs to Namco Bandai and Project Aces. The plot in this Fanfiction is obviously non-canon and was written by me.**

 **READ THE PREQUEL FIRST! (Title: Stargazing)**

 **In this story, I'll be making it like what I think will happen when the story of Ace Combat Infinity continues. Except I added ReaperxCamilla in it. Also, I'm not sure about the real names of most of the characters (Omega, Viper, Reaper, etc.) So I'll keep using their callsigns instead. Hope you don't mind.**

 **Note: Errors might be seen because of auto correct.**

* * *

Chapter 5: Keeping It To Yourself.

 _Trying not to spill the beans is vital to this situation._

 **-(Dubai, United Arab Emirates)-**

 **(Reaper's POV)**

After Goodfellow has finished giving all of us a debrief, Omega and I decided to head out to Dubai by train along with Edge, since she was interested in exploring the city with us. After the liberation of Kuwait, Goodfellow along with the bosses decided make us take the day off after coming with a conclusion that we will no longer be needed in sortie after the arrival of one of our fleets with the USS Essex until around three days. Makes me wonder why we could've just gotten the day off for the next three days. But taking only one day seems understandable, since USEA is known to pull unpredictable tricks on us. But then, I had to stop thinking about it as the train stopped, making Omega almost land on another person in his seat.

Me, Omega, and Edge went out of the train only to feel the blast of dry and hot air from the strong heat and glare of the desert. A painful 95-104 degrees fahrenheit (35-40 degrees celsius) felt like my skin turned instantly dry. It was like I was already dehydrated and was on the verge of falling apart.

"Bloody hell! How do people get over this kind of weather?!" Omega shielded his eyes from the glare of the sun.

"I would definitely live here if the weather wasn't always this hot." Edge sighed while staying in the shade.

"We've been in the UAE for a week. I thought you guys would be used to it already." I chuckled. "What do you guys want to eat?" I asked while staying in the shade too. "Pick one quickly. This is probably the hottest weather today and I'm not going to last long."

"Anyplace that serves food while it's cold enough to freeze my sweat in a second." Omega walked down, trying his best to ignore the powerful heat.

I took out my cellphone to search for any food place. I was more desperate to find the inside of a cold restaurant than what they serve. After finding a closer place to go, which was a popular Japanese food restaurant, we headed inside when we were blasted with the AC, which made the three of us sigh in relief. We told the hostess to give us a table with three seats as she led us to one, and we sat down. We began to start picking our orders after we ordered glasses of water for our beverages. However, Omega ordered tea afterwards.

"I haven't had Japanese food ever since I was still teaching Reaper on his first mission above Tokyo." Omega said.

"Strange. I thought I was the one teaching you not to crash." I teased him with a smirk.

"Belt up!" He chuckled.

Edge stayed silent as she focused on her glass of water, having a tense expression on her face as if she was thinking about something.

"Oi! Edge." Omega interrupted her. "You feeling okay?"

"I'm fine." She responded as she stopped playing with her glass. "It's just…I've been thinking about that fight we had with Butterfly Master."

"Oh?" I raised an eyebrow.

"I just realized something. If the Butterfly Master came down to take you out," She said to me, "why didn't he just engage you immediately rather than letting the UAVs handle it."

"Yeah." Omega nodded. "Normally he would try to shoot you down as quickly as possible. But in this fight, he didn't even try to take you out."

Ignoring the fact they don't know the Butterfly Master is actually a 'she' instead of a 'he', I was growing a bit uncomfortable as if I was being interrogated by them, like they knew I was hiding something. I didn't want them to find out about Camilla, since that will cause some complications between us and the situation. I could see why Camilla refused to use direct action to damage my craft. Because she was too scared to harm or shoot me down, knowing her UAVs will kill me if she doesn't. I continued to act like I didn't know anything.

"Either there was something wrong with her plane, or she was just taunting me." I shrugged.

"Her? She?" Edge asked.

"Uh…the design makes me assume a woman is controlling that thing." I covered it up.

"If the Butterfly Master is a woman, damn. She is one helluva remote pilot." Omega chuckled.

"Yeah. But not for long when the war is over." Edge sighed. "I can't wait to see him or her get severely punished for how much he or she has done." She looked away while folding her arms, clearly angry from the look on her face.

"I see you're still angry at the Butterfly Master for killing Slash so brutally above Tokyo." I said.

"Why wouldn't I be?" She huffed. "I've known Slash for five years since I joined the Air Force and became a squad member of the Ridgebacks. He was like a part of my family and he had to die because of some psychopathic pilot who got the title 'ace' by flying drones with lasers instead of facing us alone." Edge clenched her glass of water tightly, but eased down in order to avoid breaking it. "Do you even know what it's like to lose someone you've known for a long time? Especially in the military?"

"Yeah. My parents and grandfather, the one who taught me how to fly." I sighed. As for the military, she's right. I don't know what it's like. I've been with the Bone Arrows for about a year and there's nothing to compare how much that one year can beat Edge's service with Slash for five years.

"Here's your orders!" The waitress said as she handed over our food. I ordered omurice, Edge got chilled udon, and Omega got oyakodon. When she took her leave to another table, we began to eat as Omega was chowing down on his rice bowl as if he hasn't eaten for hours. Actually, this is our breakfast, so I can see why he's this hungry.

"Slow down, King Bailout." Edge said.

"What? A man has gotta eat, you know. You just don't know the brain of a pirate." Omega chuckled.

"Brain? What brain?" Edge smirked.

"Okay, that's an insult to all of us." Omega pouted.

"Yeah. Shame on you." I played along.

"Whatever." She shrugged, knowing we were joking around as well.

"So," Omega swallowed a spoonful of his food, "where do you think the UN will send us while Operation Eternal Liberation is going on?"

"My guess is maybe around Iran's harbors or Tehran. We are close by to Iran anyway." Edge made her prediction.

"For my guess," I cleared my throat, "maybe in South Korea. I mean, Tehran was already attacked by other UN forces, Moscow was already liberated thanks to another mercenary squadron, and I heard from Goodfellow that a UN invasion force is already stationed in Tokyo, which means we will either attack USEAN controlled South Korea or China."

"True." Edge nodded. "When I hear 'invasion force', I know it's going to be a busy day for the UN. No doubt we'll lose a lot of men and women fighting during the invasion."

"Yeah. All we can do is hope that we won't suffer too much casualties." Omega said. "Thankfully, we have Reaper to save the day in case something goes wrong."

"Thanks to the invasion from the Adriatic Sea, I already know what to do if things go bad." I gave a cocky smile.

"And what would that be?" Edge asked.

"Just blow anything up. As long as it belongs to the enemy, of course." I added.

"That's just how we roll." Omega laughed out loud, causing some attention from others.

"I'm hoping you won't always follow that old man's example too much."

"But it works." I said with a smirk.

"One of these days, your plan will backlash and make you think of another clever way of solving things."

"Just like your recklessness when dealing with other enemy aces?" I smirked even widely.

"Ha ha." She let out a sarcastic laugh.

"I love it when you two are the ones running your mouths more than me." Omega chuckled quietly while his mouth was slightly full.

"The problem is that we're miles away to catch up to the amount of words that come out of yours." I teased my wingman.

"What can I say? It's what keeps me relaxed while facing against the enemy planes."

"Well, most of them. You're still more nervous when facing against the Butterfly Master." I pointed out.

"Well, yeah. Because I have a much more higher chance of dying when facing against him…or her than another ace." He added.

"Speaking of the Butterfly Master, I'm just hoping for more answers about how did they make those drones with lasers, that modified CFA-44, and who's behind the face of that psychopath." Edge huffed as she sipped her drink.

My chest felt like it dropped for a second when she called Camilla a psychopath. She may have killed all those pilots, including Slash, but she was manipulated by Kvasir and Cohen about her game being just a…game. But in reality, it was just a cover up to make her control the QFA-44 and blindly kill UN pilots. If I said that to her, she wouldn't believe me hat easily due to her viewing me as a pilot without much knowledge of the enemy.

"This has been going on my head for a while now. What if an AI is controlling the Butterfly Master? What if he/she was programmed to kill any pilot on sight and that the main purpose of the AI was to help conquer or change the tide of battle?" Omega made a guess that was miles away from the real truth.

"Maybe." Edge shrugged, but made an expression like it was more possible than she thought.

"She's just a poor innocent girl, trapped in space…" I mumbled to myself.

"Huh? What was that?" Edge asked.

"Nothing. Just talking to myself." I shook my head.

"Yeah. Don't worry about Cap'n. Let the boss think." Omega patted my back.

After all those thoughts going through my head, I began to feel bad about Omega and Edge. Even though they're considered to be my friends and I'm proud of having them with me, I wasn't feeling okay that I was hiding a huge secret from them. I'll probably have to keep the secret about me and Camilla forever even after the war is over. But what was the worst part was how will they react if they discover my secret and demand to know why I haven't said anything. Camilla is considered the enemy, but I view her as an innocent girl trapped in space, not knowing what she has done ever since by the 'game'.

Never in my life have I been so paranoid about the situation I'm in right now. Sometimes I wish I was back into my old self when I would be happy to challenge and shoot down the Butterfly Master without a hint of remorse. But now that's gone, and now I'm dealing with something that is more difficult than this war.

What are my feelings in all of these things…?

* * *

 **(Finished the midterms for my college classes. Anyway, I hope this chapter was in an okay level. There was no action or anything, but just some development for Reaper and his friends. Stay tuned for the next chapter! Chapter 6 will be longer and have more action.)**

 _*You may Favorite or Follow the story, if you'd like. Reviewing this story is optional as well._


	6. Returning to the Sunrise

Wild Blue Yonder Ch.6

Response to Gargoyle One- Noted. I'll do what I can for the future chapters. Thanks for telling me ^^

 **The Ace Combat franchise does NOT belong to me. It respectfully belongs to Namco Bandai and Project Aces. The plot in this Fanfiction is obviously non-canon and was written by me.**

 **In this story, I'll be making it like what I think will happen when the story of Ace Combat Infinity continues. Except I added ReaperxCamilla in it. Also, I'm not sure about the real names of most of the characters (Omega, Viper, Reaper, etc.) So I'll keep using their callsigns instead. Hope you don't mind.**

 **Note: There might be some possible errors due to autocorrect or it was missed during proofreading.**

* * *

Chapter 6: Returning to the Sunrise.

 _Off to Japan yet again!_

 **-(*The Next Day* Al Dhafra Air Base, United Arab Emirates)-**

 **(Reaper's POV)**

It turns out today is going to be a busy one rather than just relaxation in the base.

After having breakfast with my team, Edge called me and told us that we were to report to our Commander, Goodfellow, after we have finished our meal. Omega was disappointed by our day off being removed off our schedule, but was willing enough to get back to work without any further complaints. We got up and headed to the briefing room where Edge and her Ridgeback members were seated with not that much pilots inside with us.

When I sat down with my team, we waited for around three minutes until Goodfellow entered the briefing room and corrected his glasses. He probably just finished breakfast as well before getting here. However, he eats in one of the offices instead of at the cafeteria since he prefers a more peaceful place to eat.

"Alright. Let's start the briefing." Goodfellow said as he cleared his throat while turning on the projector, displaying the map of the world. "The UN has informed me that the middle eastern front is no longer in need for one of our best pilots due to the amount of reinforcements arriving here. With the other invasion on USEA happening in Eastern Europe, the UN has proposed another invasion force should be sent to the Far East." He said while zooming in at Japan. "After the enemy failed miserably on taking Tokyo, the UN now has a good chance of hitting them back while more of the USEANs are mainly focusing on the Middle East and Russia."

We continued to watch as Goodfellow zoomed in at South Korea and at the city of Busan. Considering he already said something about us striking the USEANs back, I could already tell Busan was the city we were going to attack.

"I'm guessing we're attacking there then?" Omega asked.

"I did say that the UN is about to strike back, didn't I?" Goodfellow chuckled and zoomed closer to the city. "We're not only going to attack the city. This will be the first city we will liberate in the eastern front, and use it as our base of operations on liberating China, Eastern Russia, and Mongolia. The invasion force we will have is much more larger than the one back at the Adriatic Sea. So you'll be expecting a fleet of ships on a large scale."

"Hell yeah!" Omega cheered.

"But don't think it's an invincible fleet or anything. You'll never know what we'll come across once the invasion force is commencing attack." Goodfellow reminded us.

"There goes my hopes, Goodfellow. Thanks." He sighed.

"Well, it'll be hard for the enemy to sink one ship, since Reaper will be participating in defending the invasion force. However, Edge and her Ridgebacks will be part of it too. Just in case our ace is a bit too busy on taking down enemy ships or aircraft."

"You know I never need help." I smirked.

"Don't be so arrogant. You'll need all the help you can get." Edge smirked back at me.

"How hypocritical of you." I chuckled.

"Yeah. I still remember that time when we first met in southern Russia." Omega glared at Edge while giving smirk. "Superiority complex was written all over Slash and your face."

"That was the time before you pirates proved your worth." Edge said.

"Now it's time to prove your worth. All you need to do is keep up on our kills." I took out my hand and shook hers.

"I don't do this for money. But competition is what I like to do." Edge smiled.

Goodfellow chuckled. "Anyway, we've gotten reports that the main enemy fleet is currently docked in Hainan Island, China. Which means this will be our only doorstep to invade the Far East without dealing with the large enemy fleet. If we pull this off, this war might end a lot more faster than we can hope. So don't disappoint me and the rest of our bosses. Dismissed."

I got off my chair with my squad as Goodfellow closed the briefing while collecting his papers on the podium and turning of the projector that displayed the map of Asia. And just like that, we all knew where to go as I led my team and Edge's outside the main building, knowing we were now leaving the UAE along with the beautiful cities and the scorching heat. I'll admit I was going to miss it, but we had better places to go where not only the UN needs us, but our fellow soldiers.

It still feels weird to hear these words coming from a mercenary like me. But look at me, I'm just that plain soul that has a little bit of innocence to hope that Earth will become the same way it was before. If I live or die to see that future happen, I'll accept either of them. And if I see Camilla again, well, I'll be more happier.

"I'll miss the UAE and its skin peeling heat." Omega said as we walked to our hangar.

"The only thing I won't miss is the weather." I sighed and shielded my eyes a little from the bright sun. "Too hot for me."

"Agreed. It's also been getting into Omega's head a little bit lately." Edge said.

"What can I say? I run by solar power thanks to the sun giving me this gift!" He laughed at his jokingly false statement.

"Yeah? And I had a staring contest with the sun, and it blinked first." I said my own lie.

"This is why you're better than Viper by a country mile." Omega smiled. "Don't tell him I said that." He added.

"He's right there?" I pointed my finger.

"Crap! Where?!"

"Gullible." I chuckled.

"Hey, I thought we were in the same side."

* * *

 **-(Above the Indian Ocean)-**

After taking off and flying east, there was nothing but the blue ocean below us. Not even a single ship was seen either. It was all we could look at during the few hours of flying. Since Iran to Vietnam was taken by USEA, we had to keep our distance from the mainland and fly over friendly airspace in Indonesia and the Philippines. Hell, we might run into some of our flyboys or ships belonging to the UN.

"Nothing but ocean." Omega whistled at the view.

"You better not run your mouth too much. I'm already busy as it is." Goodfellow said while onboard his E-767 AWACS he was given during operations at Japan. "Stupid paperwork…" He mumbled in annoyance.

I looked at Omega as my F-22 Raptor was flying next to his EuroFighter Typhoon closely along with Bronco's F-16F and Zebu's MiG-29. "So, what's the plan if you get shot down and bail out?"

"His emblem has a crab for a reason. He's meant to stay in the ocean. So just leave him if that happens." Goodfellow teased.

"Belt up. I know you'll miss my sense of humor once I actually do get killed." Omega laughed.

"You always think of responses like that." I chuckled.

"You just don't know the brain of mine handles humorous replies and what to say. You should know by now, Captain."

"Brain? What brain?" I smirked under my mask.

"Okay, that is just an insult."

"Hey, cut the chatter." Goodfellow said sternly. "I'm detecting bogeys on radar, coming from the north."

"Oh come on. Did they really have to interrupt our relaxation?" Omega sighed in annoyance.

"At least we have something to do while we're bored." I shrugged and banked my aircraft to turn towards the north where the enemy flight was approaching us. "Bone Arrows, clean up the skies from any enemy fighters."

"Copy!" Omega along with Bronco and Zebu acknowledge as they began to engage.

"Ridgeback Leader to flight. Engage all hostiles and protect Goodfellow." Edge ordered as I saw her squadron head towards the enemy planes too.

"Where's SkyEye? Wasn't he supposed to be here with us too?" Omega asked.

"SkyEye immediately flew over to Japan as soon as Kuwait was liberated by the UN. So we'll be seeing him again as soon as we get there." Goodfellow replied. "For now, clear a path from any enemy planes."

"Roger that, Goodfellow!"

Before the enemy squadron in front of me could bank away from my aircraft, I rolled my plane upside down and pulled the stick after launching a load of missiles straight at the enemy planes. I did this in order to avoid head on collision with any of them. Instead, my missiles all hit them before they could take evasive action. Their planes were now smoked as it all plunged into the ocean below. I leveled my aircraft as Goodfellow whistled from my first bloods.

"Better catch up, Edge. Reaper is already in the lead." Omega chuckled as he was pursuing only one SU-33 Flanker.

"Don't think I'm not going to just let him win that easily. Ridgebacks, break!" Edge ordered as her squadron got out of formation and spread out, attacking any bandits in their twelve.

"Bone Arrows, let's show 'em how we roll, shall we?" I smirked and pulled up again, beginning to pursue another SU-33 Flanker.

"Didn't need to tell me twice, Cap'n. Let's get 'em!" Omega shouted enthusiastically and flew around like crazy as he easily evaded missiles.

I looked up as Omega was after another plane from the enemy squadron, but sighted another that was stealthily sneaking up on his tail. I took action and fired my guns instead of my missiles due to it locking on too long. It's wings fell off as I banked right to avoid the debris, only for it to hit another bandit that tried to pursue my aircraft. It's stabilizers were struck out as it fell to its end.

"Alright, Zebu, Bronco, cover Omega. I'll handled any ones that try to go on your six." I ordered.

"Yes, sir." Zebu followed.

"You got it, boss." Bronco acknowledged.

"Ridgeback 1! Behind you!" Ridgeback 3 called out.

"Wha-…? WHOA!"

I saw Edge make a sharp turn as a heat seeking missile barely hit her tail. Her squadron was busy with their own chases, so it was up to me. I pulled the stick and headed towards the SU-33 Flanker that was after her. My missiles locked on to him as I saw my AIM-9 launch and head towards my target. It rolled and evaded my missile, but it wasn't over yet. I fired my guns as it shredded and unfortunately ruined the top as bullets punctured holes and shredded metal fell out. As a finishing blow, I launched another missile as the body exploded and the cockpit fell to the ocean, unaware if the pilot bailed out or not.

"These guys aren't even trying." Omega chuckled. "They always fly smoothly instead of aggressively."

"Reaper probably took down most of the experienced pilots already and they're just sending in their nuggets or misfits after him." Goodfellow said.

 _"Sir, we got a problem here. Half of our planes have been shot down." An enemy pilot said._

 _"Damn it. All units, aim for the Reaper! Evade every shot the other planes send to you! Our top priority is taking that pirate out of our skies!" The enemy squadron leader ordered._

 _"UN dogs. You're all going down." One of the enemy planes laughed and fired a missile directly at Omega._

"Hey! On your six, King Bailout!" I shouted out.

"Can you stop calling me tha-…HOLY HELL!" Omega rolled instantly as the missile barely hit him on his left wing.

"Gotcha!" Edge fired one at the plane that tried to take down my wingman, taking him out of the sky.

"You would've been King Bailout if I didn't warn yah." I chuckled.

"Yeah, yeah. Least the name isn't that bad anyway." Omega sighed.

"Goodfellow," I called out, "are you good on your part?"

"You worry about yourself, Reaper. The rest of the Ridgebacks have my back while you and your team will be the ones on the offensive."

"Just like how the Bone Arrows play, eh?"

"Remember, you gotta be hungry."

I nodded to myself and pushed the afterburners to max as I charged towards one of the enemy planes that was trying to get on Bronco's tail. My missile locked onto it as I quickly launched it from close range, making the enemy plane unable to have enough time to evade. Same goes to another enemy plane that was flying towards me head on. I fired another missile as it barely hit my plane from it's shredded metal and ball of flames from the fuel it had.

 _"We lost two planes already?! What the hell is going on here!" The enemy squad leader growled frustratingly._

 _"Sir, we already lost 80% of our planes! We need to retreat!"_

 _"Our orders are to take down the Reaper. And I want that order accomplished!" He shouted._

 _"Affirmative!"_

In my rear view mirror, I could see two bandits on my six as I was already spiked form an enemy lock-on. I rolled my aircraft around before making a quick and sharp pull downward to do a flashing split-s maneuver. Two missiles were launched and almost hit my aircraft, but the sharp turn managed to make them miss.

"Hang in there, cap'n!" Omega dived in as he fired a missile at one of my pursuers. He broke off the trail as I now had to deal with one plane.

"Dumping speed." I said as my air brakes slowed my craft down as soon as it was at the right moment to do so, making my pursuer break away. I immediately hit the throttle and turned to chase him. I locked on and fired a missile, striking his tail before he had a chance to evade.

 _"Aircraft damaged! Bailing out!"_

 _"Alter 4, take down the Reaper!"_

 _"Negative. I'm being tracked down by one of his wingmen."_

 _"I'll go get him for you."_

I looked around and saw Omega now dealing with two bandits chasing after him while he himself was pursuing one enemy plane.

"Bone Arrow 2, two bandits on your six." One of the Ridgebacks called out.

"What?!" Omega broke hard as I saw the enemy plane that he was trying to track was now turning the tables on him, now having three bandits trailing Omega.

"Hang in there, Omega!" I said while chasing after the three bandits. Realizing I had an open chance of firing my multi-lock missiles, I switched my weapons to the 4AAM and easily locked on the enemies tailing Omega. Then, I saw another bandit approach me from head on, trying to stop me. Little did he know, he filled in the extra slot for my missile lock. "Gotcha." I fired.

As the missiles dropped and dashed towards the enemy planes, the four bandits tried to break away from Omega's tail, but failed as all four enemy planes were shot down at once. I pulled up to avoid going to a head-on collision with the destroyed aircraft that was flying towards me.

"Whoa! Sweet!" Omega chuckled.

Goodfellow whispered, showing a sign that he witnessed what I did. "Nice one."

 _"Damn Grim Reaper. You're going down!" The leader growled._

All of a sudden, I saw a missile warning on my HUD. Before I could do any evasive maneuvers, I felt my plane get struck by a missile, making my body slightly paralyzed to pressuring pain from the shockwave it produced.

"Boss! On your tail!"

"Reaper, report your damage."

"Nothing major. Panel is good and the stick is working fine…" I grunted and looked behind me to see the enemy flight leader on my tail.

"Fox 2 launched!" Omega called out as he launched a missile at my pursuer, only for it to miss as the flight leader rolled out of its way. "What?! How did that miss?!" He growled.

"I got him. Don't worry."

"Your flying ends here!" The enemy leader roared.

"Damn it!" I growled and did a tight kulbit maneuver as my nose pointed directly behind me where the enemy flight lead was. I could feel the rough feeling and adrenaline going through from the high g turn, but I managed to stay conscious, thanks to my training. Knowing I didn't have enough time to lock on, I used my guns as my rounds didn't miss at all. They bit the front air intakes and the cockpit, utterly destroying the front of the SU-33. It started rolling around as the engines were on fire and extinguished when it hit the ocean.

Omega whistled as he saw what I just did. "Boy, Cap'n. When I said you were better than Viper, I really did mean you were BETTER than him."

"Don't let him hear you say that." Goodfellow chuckled. "Looks like the skies are all clear. Nice work everybody."

"You Ridgebacks okay?" I asked as I flew around to test my plane out, even though my F-22 could handle those advanced maneuvers.

"All green. No hits taken, and we're still good on fuel and ammo." Edge told me.

"I've taken one missile hit, but things are looking pretty good right now. I'll be in formation later after testing my plane out." I notified my team.

"Affirmative. Take your time." Goodfellow said.

"I'm surprised I didn't take a hit from that furball." Omega chuckled.

"You'll still always be remembered as King Bailout for getting shot down too much." I reminded him.

"Oh come on. At least make me feel good about myself."

Before I could reply, my comms started to act up a little bit as I was receiving nothing but static. I checked my panel and electronics to see what was up, but noting seemed wrong except for the frequency I was in. It changed to a different connection by itself, which had me worried that the missile that hit my plane actually caused enough internal damage from the wave it created.

"What the-? Come on!" I groaned annoyingly and tried to change the comms, but to no avail as it stayed into one and the same channel. "What's up with this thing? I thought you and I have been through many battles before." I sighed, talking to my plane.

"We sure have."

My eyes widened as my body froze from what I just heard.

Did it just reply to me?!

"Am I crazy, or did my plane just reply to me…?" I mumbled quietly.

"Well, we have been through many battles together. But I'm not the F-22 Raptor you fly." The female voice said with a hint of a giggle. "It's me, the Butterfly Master."

Hearing the voice reveal herself made my heart jump as I replied back immediately. "Camilla?" I was just very surprised to hear her voice again. "Wait, how did you get into my frequency?"

"Well, Kvasir did all of the work." She gave a small chuckle. "I just watched him do his magic."

"Must've been boring to see how hacking works."

"You know I can hear you, Reaper." Kvasir said over the comms Camilla was in.

"Not really. It was pretty intriguing to look at it."

"Never was into computer science much. But hey, you'll never know." I shrugged. "Wait, can anybody else hear us?"

"You are in a different channel that your friends can't hear or have access to, thanks to Kvasir linking to your radio only."

"Well, okay…?" I shrugged my shoulders a bit. "So, why are you contacting me at this time?"

"There are two reasons why I came on to talk to you. One, I was just testing this out if Kvasir actually made this work, since I actually didn't believe he could."

"Does my master have zero faith in my efforts…?" I heard Kvasir whisper to himself.

"Then second,…well…I…I want to help you." Camilla told me.

"Help…me?"

"Yes. Help you. First off, I want to tell you this." She cleared her throat. "The USEAN Federation is starting to become a lot more worse than before. Kvasir gave me reports of civilians getting publicly executed for being accused of rebelling, increase of forced labor and concentration camps along with children working in dangerous conditions, production of nuclear weapons that are meant to aim at UN cities, and even sending more of their ace pilots to solely focus on your elimination."

"I can take care of the aces they send me. But why mention those other problems? I understand they're pretty screwed up, but how does that involve into help me?"

"Ever since you told me the truth onboard the satellite, that moment was when I was starting to not trust the USEAN Federation for lying to me like that. For not telling me I was killing actual people. Then, when I faced you above Kuwait City,…I couldn't do it. If I fought back, your life would have been at risk." Her voice was choked on that sentence, which made me frown a bit. "And now Kvasir has told me more about the amount of atrocities the USEAN Federation has committed while this is all going on. I can't support those monsters anymore!"

I then realized what she was trying to say. "So you want to help me in order to make the USEAN Federation lose and the United Nations win."

"Yes." Camilla replied. "This is for the greater good. USEA needs to be defeated in order to make Earth go back to the way it was before. I bet that's what you always wanted, right?"

She was right. I remember that I told her back when we first met, and told her how much I just wanted things to go back to the way it was again. Before the Ulysses disaster, I had the most wonderful life I could have ever imagined with my parents taking care of me as a child. Unfortunately, the drops of the meteors from the sky left behind their scars on Earth that everyone will see as a reminder that the skies aren't always safe. For me, it was a reminder of destroying not only my world. But my innocence.

"Yeah. I do…" I nodded

"Are you okay…?" She noticed the saddened tone of my voice.

"Yeah. I'm fine." I sighed. "Listen, I probably don't have enough time before my Commander starts yelling at me for not responding to him. Maybe we can talk another time, I guess."

"I gotta go too." Camilla said. "Listen, I…" She paused for a moment, but hesitated to complete her sentence. "…nevermind."

"Well, okay then. Stay safe, Camilla."

"No. I should be saying that to you." She told me. "You're the one risking your life unlike a coward like me."

"You're not a coward. Come on." I tried to cheer her up and let out a small chuckle.

She didn't chuckle back and just let out a saddened sigh. "Bye, Reaper."

"Yeah…bye…" I responded awkwardly, which I felt stupid for.

The frequency that connected both me and Camilla suddenly went dead as my radio was back to its normal state. I tweaked it a little and fixed the volume before tuning into the channel I was in with Goodfellow and my squadron.

"You okay, Reaper?" Goodfellow asked. "Something was wrong with your radio and I couldn't get anything out of it."

"I'm fine. That one missile probably screwed the thing up a little." I made up an excuse.

"I'll be sure to tell the boys to fix it all up while you land in Fukuoka. Right now, just stay in formation and be cautious if any more bogeys show up."

"Gotcha." I nodded while leveling my plane and moved it next to Goodfellow's aircraft plane with my squadron.

"Bone Arrow 1, try to stay on the same frequency. You'll never know what will happen next if we don't get any word out of you." Edge told me.

"Noted." I nodded and relaxed a bit, back to the smooth flight heading to Japan.

While my body took a break while I was smoothly piloting my F-22, I began to think about what Camilla told me about what the USEA Federation is doing to its military and their own people. If that Cohen guy wants to save humanity and get them back on their feet, he has a funny way of showing it, since I bet even their workers under slave labor couldn't even get on their own feet. Especially the children, which I shuttered by disgust by which kind of cold meat would force them into working in horrible conditions.

Camilla made the right choice. Hell, it's pointless to try and help USEA as they're starting to fall apart and are becoming desperate enough to do those kinds of things.

* * *

 **(I know what you're saying. FINALLY! A NEW CHAPTER! I know, I know. I'll post another chapter sometime this month :). )**

 ***You may Favorite or Follow the story, if you'd like. Reviewing this story is optional as well.**


	7. The Eastern Front

Wild Blue Yonder Ch.7

 **The Ace Combat franchise does NOT belong to me. It respectfully belongs to Namco Bandai and Project Aces. The plot in this Fanfiction is obviously non-canon and was written by me.**

 **In this story, I'll be making it like what I think will happen when the story of Ace Combat Infinity continues. Except I added ReaperxCamilla in it. Also, I'm not sure about the real names of most of the characters (Omega, Viper, Reaper, etc.) So I'll keep using their callsigns instead. Hope you don't mind.**

 **Note: There might be some possible errors due to autocorrect or it was missed during proofreading.**

* * *

Chapter 7: The Eastern Front.

 _Preparing for the Eastern Invasion._

 **-(Fukuoka, Japan)-**

 **(Reaper's POV)**

It was nice to be back in Japan. Coming back to the far eastern nation made me remember the times when I was just a rookie. My first mission may have been at Tokyo, but arriving in Fukuoka just made me feel like I was nothing but a rookie again instead of the Ace title I was given.

We recently landed in Fukuoka Airport as we made sure to stay out of the civilian flights ways for take off or landing. I heard from my granddad that this airport was once known as Itazuke Air Base, but it's now an international airport instead of a USAF base back during the Cold War era. After looking around, I walked out of the hangar with my team as we headed to one of the buildings next to furthest terminal with military vehicles belonging to the JSDF and our good man in charge of making sure our leashes are close, Goodfellow. My team and I reached him as we saw Edge and her team walked up as well.

Goodfellow looked at us with his usual stern expression and sipped his mug. "Welcome to Fukuoka. Hope you all weren't expecting to go on vacation here for a few days before the mission. To get the invasion force ready, the bosses have suggested that we need to run some drills to prepare the boys for the worst. I'm talking about that Adriatic Sea landing or the D-Day landings, except in a much more urban or metropolitan area."

Edge nodded. "All you needed to do was tell us what's the plan and we'll get right to it."

"I appreciate your straightforwardness, Edge. For now, just relax for a bit until all of you are combat ready."

"Didn't you just say we didn't come here for a vacation?" Omega chuckled.

"You either relax to get yourselves refreshed for battle, or you work immediately and get reported for crashing another Typhoon you flew."

"I'll pick the first option…"

"Where's SkyEye?" Edge asked.

"In the briefing room at this moment." He answered her question. "By the way, if you all remember the two brave soldiers that led the ground units during the Adriatic Sea invasion, they'll be working with you guys again."

"Is that so?" Omega looked around and saw a man and woman approaching us as they wore combat apparel with their rank insignias clearly visible for us to see. The woman was a Warrant Officer while the man was a Sergeant. "Wait, are they…?"

"Bertz, Collins. You both arrived here rather early." Goodfellow shook their hands.

"What can I say? I like being early." Bertz chuckled. "It's best to get the boys ready for battle early instead of waiting until tomorrow."

"I can already tell everyone is a bit disappointed that we gotta run them today. So go easy on them." Collins shrugged his shoulders and turned his head at me. "Well I'll be damned! The Grim Reaper himself!"

"In the flesh. Kind of…" I joked. "Warrant Officer Bertz and Sergeant Collins." I gave a small smile and shook each of their hands. "I had no idea the two of you would be sent here as well."

"Command probably wanted the toughest soldiers to be sent here in order to make sure our forces will stay stable enough to take South Korea." Bertz shrugged and folded her arms with a smile. "I heard that Kuwait was liberated by the UN, thanks to you guys. Nice work out there." She winked.

"I know. Just doing my job." Omega boasted playfully.

"Most credit goes to the Reaper, King Bailout." She laughed.

"So does that mean I get the second most credit?"

"No. That's Edge."

"Oh sure. Ignore the wingman of the deadliest ace in the UN…"

"Anyway…" I cleared my throat, "about the invasion, are you going to give us a briefing today or another time?"

"Another time. The UN is still determining how should we execute the invasion and what will be our solutions when things will go wrong. When I come out with the briefing before the operation, that will be the plan we will go with on liberating Busan, which will be our first foothold USEA occupied Korea."

"Anything else we should know regarding Busan?"

"Just watch your ammo on civilians. Any stray round has a possibility to kill one innocent and the UN doesn't tolerate our forces taking the lives of even one single civilian."

"Noted." I nodded.

"Any other questions?" Goodfellow asked as none of us said anything. "Alright. Report to me when you have any. Dismissed."

"You guys must pretty hungry." Bertz smiled. "The mess hall has a lot of grub waiting to be eaten. Let's go."

"Well, the service in my flight didn't provide any food to me. So might as well." Omega joked and followed along with the rest of the team and Edge.

"You're still here, Reaper?" Goodfellow raised an eyebrow as I didn't move at all nor followed them.

"I'll eat something later on. Just gotta warm up my legs after the long flight." I said while beginning to stretch.

"Just remember you're a vital asset that will determine our victory. So try not to get shot down and make the UN proud. Hell, you'll probably get your payment tripled when this ends up to be a very well executed invasion."

I chuckled. "Guess drinks will be on me from now on if that happens."

"Look on the bright side, at least Viper isn't here to make you pay twice as much on the drinks."

"True. But he had to drink, since he was the squad leader. For me, well, I drink. But not as much."

Goodfellow chuckled. "By the way, what do you plan on doing after the war is over?"

"Not sure, to be honest. Hopefully have a decent life and…spend some time with a girl I chose…" I sighed.

"Try to get one before Omega does." He laughed. "I bet he would love to boast about it when he finally beat his squad leader on something."

"He already beat me on one thing: Getting shot down many times as me." I laughed as well and looked around as my plane was being fixed up by the mechanics. "When does the invasion start?" I asked.

"Two days from now." Goodfellow answered. "For now, get some rest or get something to drink. It's going to be a long day when Operation Shield Breaker is initiated." He reminded me while he was looking down at his phone, receiving some sort of message from someone. "SkyEye wants to have a word with me. Head inside when you're done jogging, Reaper."

"Got it." I nodded as I watched him walk down the hall.

Instead of going inside the building where he others were, I decided to take a quick jog around the building just because my legs were still weak due to flying for a few hours. I'm not exactly sure when the first drill will be initiated, but I was prepared for it at anytime since it's a cakewalk for me. But Operation Shield Breaker, what Goodfellow calls the invasion of South Korea, is another important operation that cannot fail. The Adriatic Sea, Moscow, and Kuwait, was one of the hardest yet important missions to complete in order to pressure USEA from dealing with more than one fronts. It made me wonder if we were going to do another invasion in India, but that's probably saved for a other time.

My eyes looked up at the sky as Camilla immediately came into my head. It was nice to hear her voice again when I was flying in my F-22. Since she was able to have access into my radio on my aircraft, it made me wonder if she could do the same on my phone. I took it out to see no notifications at all. I sighed in disappointment and put it back in my pocket.

Am I really that demanding to get a response from her? I didn't have a clue why…

I suddenly got a text and immediately took it out, seeing it was only from my trusted wingman, Omega.

'Oi! You gonna chow down too?' He texted.

'I'll meet you guys there after I finished jogging. Just enjoy your food, bud.' I texted back, letting out a small chuckle.

* * *

 **-(The Butterfly Master's Satellite, Earth's Orbit)-**

 **(Camilla's POV)**

My eyes shot open quickly as I gasped for air upon waking up from a deep slumber. I placed my hands on my head, realizing that I was sweating a bit and my heart was pounding so hard that it almost felt like it was about to burst out of my chest. I began to breath slowly in order to calm myself down as I watched the Earth out my window as another way of clearing the stress from my head. After a few minutes have passed, I managed to ease down and just laid on the huge cushion I sleep on. All I could hear was the sound of my breathing and the feeling of my heartbeat.

"Another nightmare…" I sighed to myself and rubbed my head vigorously from the headache.

"Nightmare, master?" Kvasir asked.

"Yeah. I'll be fine." I hugged my legs as I felt like crying at this point.

"Are you comfortable to talk about it?"

"Let's just say…it involves Reaper and remorse…" I said.

"I see. You seem to really like him as much as I thought."

I blushed and shook my head, denying it. "I'm sure it's just nothing but admiration and nothing else."

"Explain to me what was that kiss you had with him then."

My face turned redder and hot as I looked up at the screen in complete shock. "W-What kiss?! I never kissed anybody in my life!" I tried to hide the fact what Reaper and I did when we were stargazing together.

"Master, you are free to refuse to talk about your negative experiences in your dreams. But you can't lie to me about something I am fully aware about." Kvasir said.

"How did you know…?" I covered my face from utter embarrassment.

"I looked back at the recording footage when you and Reaper were spending time together for the first time. I was quite honestly concerned about you and was hoping he didn't hurt you in any way. And…well, I came across this."

Kvasir then showed a picture on my screen that made my face even more hotter when I stared at it even longer. It was me and Reaper, lips connected while our arms were wrapped around each other.

"Kvasir! You didn't have to show me!" I shouted.

"I thought you would be satisfied to see it again, since you were pretty happy during that experience." He chuckled, clearly teasing me.

I pouted and looked away.

"I apologize." He chuckled.

"You better be." I smirked and huffed a few seconds later. "Why did I do that…?"

"Taking my joke teasing seriously, master?"

"Not that." I told him. "Why did I just started kissing him after we only met for the first time in around thirty minutes? If my parents were here, they would probably kill me or come up with some B.S fact that I'll get pregnant or something."

"You can get pregnant, if you do something more than just kissing…"

"Muuu-…!" I pouted and glared at the screen with my face red.

"Jokes aside, maybe you were suffering a little a bit from…loneliness. I know I am programmed to provide company for you up here, and I'm grateful for it. But maybe you just wanted another actual human being up here and you started to grow close to Reaper easily because of it." Kvasir said.

"It's still a weird thing I could possibly do." I blushed. "The fact I kissed him so fast after we met is just…" I sighed and covered my face full of shame and embarrassment.

"Did you like it?"

"Good question…" I looked down at my legs and touched my lips. "I actually did for some reason. But it still should've not happened too early. I guess you were right. Maybe I was desperate to have another human being here with me and I just easily felt attached to him. I guess total isolation can cause you to go insane."

"Attached? Forgive me for asking, but…are you perhaps interested in him?"

"…" I didn't answer that question as I just sat there silently for a few seconds. "I-…"

"Hold that thought." Kvasir interrupted me. "I apologize for interrupting you, master. But I'm getting a transmission from Command that is very urgent to respond to. May I?"

"Of course. I'll be waiting." I nodded.

After Kvasir was connected to a private call, I was left alone as there was nothing else to do. I looked at my controller and clenched my fists, having the urge to just destroy it because it was a tool for me killing real pilots that I thought were just enemy avatars in this so called 'video game' they made me play. If Reaper didn't open my eyes about what was really happening, I would be gladly playing the game where I would unknowingly kill countless pilots and soldiers. Something I never wanted to take part in.

"Press start to continue…?" I sighed and set it aside. "No. I just don't want too…" I said to myself and continued to patiently wait until Kvasir returned from the call I was unable to hear. It took around ten minutes of complete silence until he came back.

"Master?" He called.

"I'm right here, as always…" I looked around my chamber and shrugged my shoulders. "What was the call about?" I asked, expecting an answer after. Instead, Kvasir stayed silent. "Kvasir?"

"I really shouldn't tell you. It'll only just get you even more concerned about Reaper."

"It's about him? What's going on?"

"There is no need to hear about it nor worry about it. I doubt it'll even effect Reaper whatsoever."

"If you really think that, then you would tell me."

"Master, please."

"I already know I'm responsible for killing many people blindly by this game that manipulated me. The least you can do is tell me the full detail on what's going on after I'm against USEA." I frowned.

Kvasir sighed, "…very well."

"Now, what was that call about?"

"Command has declared a plan to be commenced at once after the fall of Kuwait, which was lost due to Reaper easily taking down USEA stationary forces. After recognizing your failure for taking him down yet again, Cohen himself has established an order to an elite squadron as being a substitute to take down Reaper while your QFA-44 is being repaired or another one is being built. It's USEA's best squadron that was reported to not have one single squad member shot down during this conflict. And…I'm sure you will recognize the emblem from your previous sorties before you found out it was all a game…"

Kvasir displayed an image of a formation of a squadron in the air after take off as the runway of an airbase was seen below them.

The squadron was a flight of SU-37 Terminators with an emblem of a golden eagle holding an arrow and sword with its talons with a background of the USEA Coat of Arms with five stars under it, representing how successful the flight was and is considered a former Russian Ace Squadron. There was no doubt this was the same elite squadron in my 'game' that I flew with that helped me seize many cities during USEA's expansion.

"No…" I whispered.

"Their objective: Shoot down and kill Reaper, no matter the cost." Kvasir said.

* * *

 **(I'll be flying to the Philippines at the end of this month. Anyway, I hope all of you had a good Christmas, and I'll see you guys in 2016! And yes, I kind of referenced the Yellow Squadron in the end, but they will most likely have a different squadron name.)**

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